Bollywood Music From The 1990s - Part 2

This article is part 2 in the series of Bollywood music from the 1990s. Do read it before reading this post.

1995
Believe it or not, 1995 was the first year Rahman actually composed music for a “true” Hindi movie, and boy what a result. And this year truly belonged to the master, with two huge musical hits, but was eclipsed by a even bigger hit.

Rangeela: “Tanha Tanha”, “Yaaron sunlo zara”, “Kya kare”, “Hai Rama” are songs that you could listen anytime again and again.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge: The film that epitomized romance and Jatin-Lalit. I hated the movie, but I do consider “Tujhe dekha to yeh jaana sanam” as one of best romantic songs ever composed. Other mentions were “Ho gaya hain tujko tho pyaar sajna”.

Bombay: Mani Ratnam’s Bombay was a massive musical hit, again, the master proving how good he is – “Kehna Hi Kya”, “Ek ho gaye hum aur tum”, “Tu hi re” have stood the test of time and are sung even now in song competitions. “Bombay Theme” resonates even to this day – this was a Rehman gem.

Other notable mentions: Akele Hum Akele Tum with its copied songs, was still had songs like “Raja ko raani se pyaar ho gaya” and “Dil mera churaya kyon”.

1996
1996 saw the ultimate truck driver and train beggar songs. Finally they had their day.

Raja Hindustani: It is still impossible to travel in second class without hearing “Pardesi Pardesi” at least thrice. And then there were hits like “Kitna Sona Tujhe Rab Ne Banaya” – this movie marked a so-called return of Nadeem Shravan.

Maachis: Before Vishal Bharadwaj was an accomplished director, he was (and is) a great music director too. “Chappa Chappa”, and “Paani Paani Re” coupled with Gulzar’s lyrics give these songs an everlasting feel.

Khamoshi: Jatin-Lalit again stole the limelight this year coming up with absolute beauties like  “Bahon ke darmiyan”, “Yeh dil sun raha hain” and “Aaj mein upar”. This was Bhansali’s first movie as well.

Bandit Queen: Remember the super-ultra controversial Bandit Queen. What many people miss out on is this movie had excellent music by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the song “Akhian nu chen na aave” being a class act.

1997
Compared to 1996 though, 1997 saw a lot of musical hits, which also translated into big movie hits as well.

Pardes: Subash’s Ghai last memorable movie had some splendid songs, “Do Dil”, “Yeh Dil”, “Meri Mehbooba”. Sonu Nigam’s “Yeh Dil” rendition is still a great song to hear.

 Gupt: After Mohra, Viju Shah and Gulshan Rai stuck gold with this electronic beat musical score. Song likes “Gupt”, “Mushkil Bada Yeh pyaar hain” and “Duniya hasino ka mela” were a huge hits, and I can still listen to its song even today in my car.

 Dil To Pagal Hain: Yash Chopra’s return to direction after Darr as expected produced a major musical hit in DTPH, by an unnamed director Uttam Singh. “Dil to pagal hain”, “Bholi Si surat”, “Arree re re”, “Pyaar kar”, “Koi ladki hain” and “Ek duje ke vaaste” were massive hits, ones that can be heard for years ahead now.

Border: As if DTPH was not even, Anu Malik came up with his own set of hits that year in Border, with his epic song “Sandese aate hain” and the classic “Tho chalun”.

1998
1998 saw some real good movies hitting the theatres, and probably belonged to A. R. Rahman for his masterpiece.

Zakhm: Mahesh Bhatt’s last film of repute did have some melodious offerings by M. M. Kreem  in “Gali main aaj chand nikla”, “Hum yaha, tum yaha”, “Raath saari beqaaari” and “Jaltaa hain jiyaan mera”. Those still remain Kreem’s haunting compositions.

Satya:  As much as Satya is remembered for its gritty take on underworld and unmatched direction by RGV, music though used sparely was just excellent. The theme of Satya still remains a class act by Sandeep Chowta, and then Vishal Bharadwaj came up with two superb numbers in “Sapne mein milthi hain” and “Badalon se kaath kaat kar”.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hain: This Karan Johar’s entry into tinsel-town was a massive hit for Jatin-Lalit, with the title song “Kuch kuch hota hain” still ringing in many a truck driver’s systems. Other songs of repute were “Ladki badi anjaani hain” and the stylized version of “Raghupati Raghav”.

Dil Se: However as said above, it was A. R. Rahman who shined this year. This effort from Rehman eclipsed even Roja for me. The brilliant “Chaiyya Chaiyya” was used as recently as 2 months back in the “Inside Man” speaking about timelessness of the song. The other songs are no less – “Jiya Jale”, “Dil Se”, and eternal classic “E Ajnabi” were enough to propel this musical score as one of the classics.

Other notable mentions:  Pyaar tho hona hi tha

1999
It was the year of classical music. This year provided some of the best songs for years to come, and made for an excellent end to the decade.

Sarfarosh: This was another Jatin-Lalit trumps with songs like “Jo Haal dil ka”, “Hoshwaalon ko khabar kya”, “Is deewane ladke ko” donning the screen. Of course it helped that it was genuinely good movie with awesome acting by Aamir Khan.

Rockford: This was probably the movie where people began to hear of Shankar-Eshan-Loy as a group; their “Aasman ke chath se” was a rocker, but it was Kay Kay’s “Yaaron” which was greater hit, and remains of the best songs on friendship composed yet.

Taal: Subash Ghai teamed up with A. R. Rahman to provide another musical score after Dil Se, where Rahman used a lot of North Indian elements. “Ramta Jogi”, “Ishq Bina”, “Taal se taal mila” and “Nahi saamne tu” remain hummable even today.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam: One musician though who took this year by storm was Ismail Darbar and his classical take in this movie. This movie boasted of superior quality hits in “hum dil de chuke sanam”, “aankhon ki gustakiyan”, “Chaand chupa badal mein”, “Tadap Tadap” and “Jhonka hawan ka”. The theme tune and “Albela Sajan” were absolutely delightful too. Easily the best album of 1999.

1947 (Earth) : This Deepa Mehta movie had scintillating music, by none other than Rahman, who really brought out the era with his ethnic sounds. “Dheemi Dheemi”, “Ruth aa gayi re” and the theme music stand out. But one song that still rings up a chord remains Rehman’s composition of “Ishwar Allah” – a truly blessed song.

That’s it – a decade of superior music, unlike as assumed by many that it wasn’t. These were a few of my favorite music which I still hear today – admittedly it would seem that second half of 1990s produced more qualitative music than its former, which is true, because of newer talents in music industry too. It might surprise you that though A. R. Rehman was all around the country those years, he actually had very few true ‘bollywood’ releases – he had many Tamil dubbed movies including “Duniya Dilwalon Ki”, “Vishwavidatha”, “Doli saja ke rakhna” and more.

It was interesting decade, and I think it has its fair share of musical hits which will be remembered for quite a while.

What are your favorite numbers from the 1990s?